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SkekTek
SkekTek was the Skeksis' Scientist, and counterpart to urTih the Alchemist. He was feared by the other Skeksis, as they understood nothing of his work. SkekZok the Ritual Master considered skekTek to be a self-mutilating crank, as he had amputated one of his own arms and legs, replacing them with mechanized constructs. He had also replaced his jugular vein with a transparent tube, in order to study his own blood circulation. Personality SkekTek was once friends with Aughra, having built her observatory while Aughra showed him the secrets of Thra. Aughra later dimissed skekTek's power of thought as an attempt to re-decipher the confused knowledge inherited from his urSkek incarnation.Froud, B. & Llewellyn, J. J., (2003) The World of the Dark Crystal. Pavilion Books. SkekTek partially regretted ending his friendship with Aughra as she was the only immortal who shared his interest, but begrudgingly cut ties with Aughra to maintain skekSo's favor. SkekTek considered himself a genius and a master of life and death. Arrogantly expressing pride in his work, his interest with the animals of Thra caused him to perform countless experiments on them while they were still alive. Believing himself to be the most intelligent of the Skesis while also being among their weakest, he was afraid of skekSo and other very strong Skeksis, skekTek usually humbled himself before them while secretly hoping to win their respect through his work. The abuse and accusations of being a fraud that he received from the Emperor and General should his inventions fail left him with a persecution complex and violent temper. Being unable to vent his anger on the Emperor, skekTek let it out on creatures that were even weaker than he was by causing them great pain. To his fellow Skeksis, he typically expressed his frustration by peppering his utterances with overly technical jargon, which he knew his comrades would struggle to understand. SkekTek would become more compliant when he received gifts and resources to aid in his work. Like all Skeksis, skekTek enjoyed armed combat, especially in his attempts to prove to the Generals that he could be strong like them. The only creature skekTek showed affection for was a small animal with green fur, a beak, and eyes on the end of pale stalks. SkekTek even refers to it as a friend; keeping it in a cage right next to his work area. Biography Skektek's main responsibilities lay in devising new ways to prolong the Skeksis' lives, given the task by the emperor skekSo when their usual means of life extension with the Dark Crystal began to fail. He sought to provide the Dark Crystal with an alternative energy source, as it could no longer draw it from Thra itself. However, he nearly died when he accidentally polarized it into extracting his essence, saved by skekSil's intervention. SkekSil convinced skekTek to repurpose his assumed failure into a means for the Skesis to nourish themselves on extracted life energy. Revitalized, skekTek successfully used the Gelfling Mira to create a bowl full of essence, which restored the emperor and many others before he bottled the last of it."End. Begin. All the Same." The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Netflix. August 30, 2019 Ordered to repair the machine when it overloaded from killing Mira, skekTek locked her remaining essence in a cabinet with a locksnake before leaving temporarily, only to return and find skekSil skulking within. The two smell Rian and Gurjin in the lab before skekTek gets into a violent confrontation with skekSil over him stealing the vial, which Rian exploited to steal it and escape. SkekTek reported this to the emperor and that skekSil was to blame for stealing the vial, but skekSil twisted the story such that it seemed to be skekTek's fault that the Gelfling escaped with the vial in the first place. This resulted in skekTek being punished by having a peeper beetle gouge out his eye,"Nothing Is Simple Anymore" The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Netflix. August 30, 2019 which he replaced with a bionic one which he admitted had better vision than his original. Despite his resentment to skekSil, he somewhat forgave him when given a pair of Gruenak slaves to quickly repair the machine with. Thanks to the Gruenaks' aid, skekTek repaired the machine while building chairs designed to restrain the Gelfings and extract their essence. While impressing the Emperor, skekTek was astonished at skekSo's insistence to extract essence from a large amount of Gelflings. Under duress, skekTek hypothesized that 50 Gelfling would be required each trine in order to maintain the Skeksis' immortality."The First Thing I Remember Is Fire" The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Netflix. August 30, 2019 After making upgrades to drain three Gelflings at once without damaging the Crystal, skekTek was allowed a seat at the banquet table. One night, when the Chamberlain returned from Stone-in-the-Wood, skekTek and the other Skeksis mocked skekSil's peachberry stench and forced him out of the banquet hall. The next day, a mortally wounded skekMal the Hunter returned to the castle with skekTek exhausting the essence stocks on skekSo's orders in a failed attempt to heal him. When Aughra allowed the Skesis to take her essence to revive skekMal in return for the release the Gelfings they imprisoned, she attempted to reason with skekTek by reminding him of their past friendship. He dismissed her pleas when he noticed the Emperor watching them, with skekMal seemingly dead after the process ran its course. When the Gelfling clans eventually united to form the Gelfling resistance, skekTek incorporated additional weapons to the Skeksis' armor and was eager to test them out in battle. However, skekSo forced the scientist to remain in the castle while the other Skesis attempted to kill the rebels, having been ordered to create an artificial army from Arathim corpses. SkekTek's attempts to reanimate the corpses with the Dark Crystal initially failed, so he decided to take advantage of the other Skesis' absence to lavish himself on the throne. SkekTek forced the Podlings to work faster than ever, physically abusing them when he was displeased with the food they brought. When skekMal awakened, skekTek informed the hunter of the other Skeksis' location, only for the hunter to call the scientist a coward for not joining the fight. Infuriated by skekMal's insult, skekTek took out his pent up rage on the Gruenaks when they revolted, throwing one of them down the Castle shaft. SkeTek then managed to kill the other Gruenak by repeatedly cracking its skull with a piece of broken machinery. In a flash of inspiration. SkekTek set to work on fusing the Gruenak's corpse with the Arathim carcass, integrating mechanical parts and Crystal energy to create the first Garthim. After the Garthim War, skekTek perfected the essence extraction using mirrors to direct the Dark Crystal's beams so that the drained victims would be reduced to mindless slaves instead of being destroyed. His other main achievement is the modification of Podling vocal chords to incorporate them into the Pod choir.Smith, A. C. H., & Odell, D. (1982). The Dark Crystal. Holt, Rinehart and Winston . Following the near extinction of the Gelflings, skekTek joined a political alliance consisting of himself, skekUng the Garthim Master and skekNa the Slave Master. He died many trine later, when the Gelfling Kira, whom he was trying to drain of essence, summoned his laboratory animals to attack and push him down the volcanic shaft of the Castle. & (dir.); Henson, J., & Lazer, D. (prod.); Henson, J. & Odell, D. (writ.) (December 17, 1982). [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083791/ The Dark Crystal] (Motion picture). New York City, NY: . Non-canon appearances In the continuity established by Legends of the Dark Crystal, during the early period of the Garthim War, skekTek was blackmailed by skekLach the Collector into withholding essence from Emperor skekSo.Kessel, B. R. & Arnhold, H. (2007) Legends of the Dark Crystal Volume 1: The Garthim Wars. TokyoPop. He attempted to tell skekUng of skekLach's treachery by hand gestures. SkekUng did not understand what the Scientist was trying to say and advised him to keep quiet.Kessel, B. R. & Arnhold, H. (2010) Legends of the Dark Crystal Volume 2: Trial by Fire. TokyoPop. Behind the scenes SkekTek's robes were based on a wheel chair and an Italian futurist sculpture.C. Finch, The Making of the Dark Crystal: Creating a Unique Film, Henry Holt & Co, 1983, pp. 44-45, . Steve Whitmire, who originally voiced the character, said in an interview that the scientist's voice was based on that of Peter Lorre, and that his death cries were painful to emit, but that Henson insisted that he do repeated takes of them, an act Whitmire attributed to the director's sadistic "Ernie" side.Report: Steve Whitmire Talks Muppets at Philly Comic Con, Toughpigs.com, May 7 2018 In Age of Resistance, a younger skekTek is voiced by Mark Hamill. Gallery Scientist.jpg SkekTek Instagram.jpg SkekTek UrTih.jpg|SkekTek with his urRu counterpart, urTih the Alchemist. skekSil & skekTek.jpg|SkekSil and skekTek Skeksis gathered.jpg|SkekOk, skekAyuk, skekTek, skekLach, and skekSo skekSo & skekTek.jpg|SkekSo and skekTek skekSo, skekTek, skekSil, & skekOk.jpg|SkekSo, skekTek, skekSil, & skekOk References External Links * Category:Characters Tek Category:The Dark Crystal characters Category:Legends of the Dark Crystal characters Category:Males Category:Villains Category:Deceased Category:The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance characters